Some news from Froggies in bunaken?

[AngelfishDiver]

Hi everybody

As you might have read already, the dive center Froggies in Bunaken has been sold in May to the dive center next door Bastinanos.

I've spent in the past many holidays there, already 9 weeks, and I was planning to go back later this year.
The new owner said that he would keep the high quality standards of this dive center... I wish I could trust it but... has someone been there recently?

Some question, for example :
- is the usual staff still there or are there some new ones since a few weeks?
- are the customers still asked where they want to dive ?
- are the dives still non limit (as long as you have air enough)?
- is there still one guide for 2 to 4 divers maximum?
- is the food still as good, with variety and quantity? For example fish + meat + several vegetable + salad + soup + rice or noddles?
- is the stall still eating in the same place as the guests and playing music and singing during and after the meal at night?
- did they improve the bungalows (shower) ?

Thanks for the update if you have some good or bad news...

 

[frogfish]

I was at Froggies last week for the first time so can't compare with how it used to be. To answer some of your questions:
- Most of the staff are still there from what I was told
- Customers are asked where they want to dive, including the sites further away
- Dives are non limit
- 3 maximum per dive guide - when I was there it was 1 to 2
- Food was all right, not particularly impressive but descent
- Staff are singing in the evening, but not eating with the guests (except Benny the manager)
- There was a cold shower in my bungalow.

Hope this helps

 

[cgf]

in Bunaken I've been at twofish, at time I choose to go there I heard well things about Bastinanos. do you have some bad reviews?

 

[Benny De Witte]

Hi AngelfishDiver.
I'm Benny, manager at Froggies and I would like to give you some info on the questions you have posted.
We still have the same high standards as before and we even improved quite a few of them as well. Talking about security: we have an oxygen tank, a diver emergency plan and a basic first aid kit onboard all our boats. We are currently working to have VHF-radio contact boat-to-dive base on all our boats soon. Relaxed and easy (we even call it "the laziest") diving is still one of our goals as we dive with 2 to max. 3 (definitely not 4 !) clients per dive guide and max. 5 to 6 divers in your dive boat. Your dive time is indeed only limited by your own air consumption but we definitely want to see you back at the surface with no less than 30 bar/500 psi after you slowly ascended and made that nice and long safety stop between 30 and 15 ft gazing at the fish life along the reef top. We do not dive deeper than 30 meters/100 feet and believe me there is a lot more to see between 20 meters/65 feet and the reef top than "deep below".
We still take care our clients don't have to dive (unless you want to!) the same dive spot twice before you've seen them all and our wishes are being listened to as well. After your dive our dive guides will go through the various marine life books with you to find out what was that "tiny little thing" he was pointing at during that dive. All our food is still as you mentioned it in your post. Staff still singing and enjoying being with the guests. All our bungalows now have hot water showers and a western style toilet.
So I hope by adding this information you and the other visitors of ScubaBoard will have a try at Froggies again... to find that whatever has been changed/renovated is for the better of you all.

 

[song]

Thanks, Benny. I'm still looking at all possibilites for the future, date to be determined. Froggies just moved up the list with hot showers. Can massage be scheduled?

 

[Benny De Witte]

Hi Song,
For the time being no massages at Froggies yet but... we keep it under consideration. As we have no desire to become a 5* rated top-end luxury Resort, we want to keep our well-known and fine-tuned personal service oriented towards the diving and and good but basic accommodations as our main goal.

 

[AngelfishDiver]

Thanks for these information Benny.
So the service seems to be as good as before, the hot showers en wi fi that Christiane was preparing are OK now?
One more question, if I dive with a buddy with a higher air consumption, can he go up and let the others underwater with the guide as before or should everybody go up too?

 

[Benny De Witte]

Hi AngelfishDiver,
Yep, hot showers and the Wi-Fi fully working now.
About the air consumption matter: the guide may even decide to briefly join the client who consumes his/her air a bit faster than the buddies to the surface and then return to the other divers. Depends on how the situation is at that moment at the dive site because choosing who can he leave "alone" for a few minutes is only to be determined by my guide(s). By the way, our boats are always around for fast and easy pick-up those who surfaced. But definitely those who consume lesser air get longer dive times, that's for sure.
Hope to see you soon!

 

[AngelfishDiver]

Thanks for your answers Benny !

 

[Malene]

Hello,
I'll be there real soon... On Friday, I will be on Bunaken for a week.
I already went to Froggies 1.5 years ago and enjoyed it so much that I promised myself to go back... So here I am.
Of course it is going to be different without Christiane. But the dive sites are the same, and maybe more importantly the dive guides are the same. So it cannot be a complete disaster ;-)
In any case I'll write a report to post here (hopefully with some pictures, although I am still beginning to take UW pictures and my camera is not fully tamed yet....

The following week, I am going to Pulisan resort, not far from Lembeh, with different types of dives. There are much less info on this resort, but it might be another good option for this part of Sulawesi. More news by the end of November...

Malene Malenalo